


Torchwood: After The Fall

by TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft



Category: Torchwood
Genre: 3 parts, Big Finish, Canary Wharf Battle, Gen, M/M, Pre-Series, Torchwood audio drama: before the fall, big finish production, eventual Jack and Ianto bit, post before the fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-20 03:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9472832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft/pseuds/TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft
Summary: I listened to Torchwood: Before the Fall, the new big finish audio, the other night and this story has been writing itself in my head ever since. It's a somewhat disjointed series of events that take place over the days following the Canary Wharf battle. Overall the three parts of this story will cover from post Canary Wharf pre-series to sometime in series 2.Its as close to Canon as I could imagine, and will have a few mentions to 'Before The Fall' (not nothing that will confuse readers who have not listened to it)I really hope you enjoy it as I've been so excited to write this story and share it with you.Much Love."A new start. A new day. And the world would soon forget..."





	1. Chapter 1

Ianto stood by the side of the road, waiting. His suit jacket was somewhere in the rubble of the tower, so as night drew in he started to feel more and more cold. The van which pulled up was a non-descript white transit van. It was big enough for what he needed, yet small enough to be relatively discreet on the dark London roads. An overweight, pasty man in blue wash jeans and stretched white shirt jumped out of the door with a cigarette in his mouth and a brown clipboard his hand. He smiled grimly at Ianto.

“A’right Mate? Jones is it?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Ianto replied with gritted teeth.

“Cracking. Sign here please.”

Ianto took the clipboard and scrawled his name with shaking hands.

“Where you taking her then?” The man asked, taking the board from Ianto.

“Uh. Cardiff.”

“Nice. Going home then?”

Ianto nodded.

“Well, take care of her. Here’s a card with the Cardiff branch location on it.” He handed Ianto a white card with an address stamped into its skin. “Two days return. 200 quid.”

Ianto pushed an envelope into the man’s hand.

“It’s all there.”

“Cash?”

Ianto didn’t reply. The man gestured for him to get into the van.

“Here are the keys. You’re all set. Anything else you need mate?”

“Im good thanks.”

“A’right. Take care mate.”

The man’s only reply was a blast of exhaust fumes as Ianto skidded off into the night.

*

Ianto woke with a jerk. A passing car had honked loudly at him as he sat, parked in a lay by. His head was sore from resting on the steering wheel and his arm was burning. Gingerly, he reached down and lifted his sleeve. The sight made his stomach turn. A deep gash on his arm was framed by singed flesh and flame red burns. He swallowed vomit and reached to turn the key.

The motorway was relatively quiet at this time in the morning, so Ianto had no trouble swerving through the minimal traffic to get towards the city. The sky was red and blue and green and grey as night shifted into morning.

A new day. A new start. And the world would soon forget.

*

The warehouse he had chosen was long abandoned (as he knew it would be); it had a strange smell and there was dust everywhere. But it would do. Lisa looked peaceful as she slept on the mattress he had set up for her in the corner. He needed to buy some time while he fixed up the conversion unit and made sure it would be safe for her. He listened to the rain pattering on the metal roof and allowed himself to finally process the past few days.

He cried until his breath was coming in short and painful pants.

Then he stopped, got up, and pulled himself together. He checked on Lisa after a few minutes of deep thought. She was doing okay. The pain medication he had managed to swipe was working it seemed. He was thankful for that.

In one great swoop, he kissed her forehead, covered her up to her neck in a dirty blanket and made for the door.

He briefly spared a thought-this wasn’t how he had imagined returning to Cardiff after 2 long years.

*

His Mother’s house was as he remembered: Warm, inviting, kettle always boiled, doors always open. The latter was a particular perk to him at that exact minute.

Having grown up there he knew exactly where to step, exactly where the creaky floorboards were and which stair moaned like a dying cow if you trod on it wrong. He made it to his old room and paused at the door. At the end of the hall he could hear his Mam breathing. Her bedroom door was slightly open and he could just glimpse her foot.

It took all his willpower not to just crumble to the ground and cry out to her. The most painful part was that he could see himself doing it. He could see himself stepping into her room, kneeling by her bed and sobbing in her arms, begging for her to make it all better.

Tears pricked his eyes. He blinked and opened his door as quietly as he could.

His room was as he had left it 2 years previously. His star wars duvet was tucked neatly onto his bed, a blanket across the bottom half. He spied his old school rucksack and allowed himself a small smile of relief. He opened his wardrobe and sighed. It smelt as much of home as it possibly could. It smelt of his Mam, of coffee, of secondary school and secret wanks and secret girlfriends. It smelt like cheap booze and nights he cried himself to sleep. The memories hit him like a bus, like a thousand kicks to the chest.

This time he couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down his face. Bleary eyed and shaking, he grabbed as many clothes as would fit in his bag. 2 pairs of jeans, a few tops, a jumper and a couple of jackets. As a last thought he nabbed the suit he’d worn to his Dad’s funeral. He’d lost weight since then and was confident it would still fit fine, despite the time it had been locked away.

With one last glance around the room, he sighed and swallowed the lump in his throat. He left the house as quietly as he could, remembering how he had walked this exact path as a kid sneaking out in the middle of the night.

Ianto left the house in his wake, and cried his whole way back to the warehouse.

He had a plan. Perhaps a bad plan. But it had to work.

He needed to get into Torchwood Three.


	2. Chapter 2

6 months earlier:

“Ianto Darling, can you get me the latest file we have on the Cardiff lot? I have a call with Captain Harkness in half an hour and I want to be prepped.”

Ianto looked up from his desk and smiled warmly at his boss.

“Of course, Yvonne. Let me just pop down to admin.”

“Good lad.”

Ianto took the lift down to the 7th floor and entered his key code to open the door.

“Hiya Ianto, what you doing in our neck of the woods?”

Ianto grinned and shook David’s hand.

“Yvonne asked me to grab her some files.”

“Sure thing, let me give you a hand. What you looking for?”

“Harkness.”

David raised an eyebrow.

They walked together down a long corridor of filing cabinets and shelves with boxes backed tightly.

“I tell you mate, it’s not been the same since you got promoted and left us all down here. I can’t believe you’re Hartman’s assistant. She’s a right one, she is.”

Ianto laughed.

“She’s not all bad, trust me.”

“And I’m sure you’re not paid to say that. Here we are anyway. Harkness, J” David pulled a box down from the shelf and set it on a nearby table. “What you looking for exactly?”

“The latest we have on anything to do with Harkness or Torchwood 3. Yvonne’s got a call with Harkness and wants to have the upper hand I guess.”

“Not bloody likely, he’s a slippery one that Jack Harkness.”

Ianto was absentmindedly flicking through the files, looking at the date stamps and trying to determine what would be of most use to them.

“How’d you mean?”

“You haven’t heard the stories?”

Ianto looked up.

“I don’t really trouble myself with rumours, David.”

“Well maybe you should, ‘cus some of the stuff about Harkness is dead weird.”

“I’m sure it is.” Ianto grabbed the files he wanted and put them under his arm. “And I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it over a beer sometime.”

“Damn straight I will.” David stuck his hand out, Ianto shook it. “Take care Mate, especially with Queen and Bloody Country up there.”

Ianto nodded, smiled at David, and then made his way back up to Yvonne’s office. He placed the files on her desk.

“Here you go. The most recent stuff we have on Harkness, and a few bits on Torchwood 3.”

“Thank you Ianto. Now you couldn’t be a dear and get me a cup of your most amazing coffee, only I will absolutely need it if I’m going to get through a full phone call with that ape of a man.”

“Of course. But Yvonne, I was wondering….”

“Go on.”

“I was talking to the lot downstairs, and they said there are a lot of rumours around Harkness.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, he is certainly an enigma.”

“I was just-I just thought that you have all the heads of Torchwood from all the branches over once a year for meetings. And-And I’ve never seen Harkness at our front door, as it were.”

Yvonne laughed and patted Ianto’s arm softly.

“Jack and I don’t always see eye to eye on how Torchwood should be run. We certainly don’t agree on a lot of policies that we both separately have. He cut all ties with us about 5 years ago, when he took over from Alex. He stopped coming to the meetings as Alex had attended before, he stopped the phone calls. We were our own organisations. We still are. But I managed to convince him that a little phone chat every 3 months to realign our courses would do no harm. So here we are.”

Ianto stood in thought until the phone rang uncomfortably close to his ear.

“Coffee, Ianto.”

“Right. Coffee.”

As he left the room he put Torchwood Three and Captain Jack Harkness to the back of his mind for later consideration. It didn’t really matter to him now, after all.

*

Ianto heard the rumble of the car engine approaching; the slamming of the door. He heard quick footsteps and a low, manly shout. When the screams started he knew he had to leave his hiding place.

The stick he was using wasn’t particularly elegant, but it did the trick.

“Thanks.”

He said, as the weevil lay unconscious on the dirty ground.

“No, thank you… And you are?”

Ianto shook the man’s hand in a firm grip he couldn’t hold for long. Time to come clean.

_I wonder if he remembers._

“Jones, Ianto Jones.”

“Nice to meet you Jones, Ianto Jones. Captain Jack Harkness.”

That would be a no then.

Ianto watched Jack walk away, and for the first time since he formed this plan, he was sure it wouldn’t work.

*

6 months earlier… (Again)

“Yvonne Hartman’s office, Ianto Jones speaking, how can I help you?”

A throaty laugh greeted him.

“Yvonne has a phone monkey now? And a welsh one at that! I should get me one of those…”

“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t catch your name?”

“I didn’t offer it.”

“Well, you better hurry up then, otherwise I might be inclined to terminate our call.”

“Oooh, say that again, but slower.”

“Goodbye, Sir.”

“Okay, Okay, Okay! Wait, Wait. I’m just messing with you. It’s Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Three. Can you patch me through to Yvonne, Ianto Jones?”

“Captain Harkness?”

“Yeah?”

“Right, yeah.” Ianto Coughed. “Let me see if she is available.”

“Hurry back.”

Ianto left his phone by the receiver and jogged into Yvonne’s office. He knocked twice.

“I’ve got Harkness on line 2, he’s asking for you.”

“What does he want?”

Yvonne asked, not looking up from her work.

“Don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“Well find out.”

Ianto sighed and returned to his phone.

“Harkness.”

“Still here. So what’s the word phone monkey?”

“What exactly is the nature of your phone call with Ms Hartman today?”

“National Security.”

“I’m afraid you’ll need to be more specific.”

“And I’m afraid you don’t have the security clearance to know.”

“Ms Hartman is a very busy women, and she trusts me to sort out the issues that she doesn’t have time for.”

“Oh, she’ll have time for this.”

“You better hope so.”

“Is that a threat, Ianto Jones?”

“As good as.”

“Mm, I like you. I do hope we have more dealings in the future.”

“Im transferring you now, sir.”

“Can’t wait.”

**

“Ianto Jones, born August 19th 1983. Able student but not exceptional. One minor conviction for shoplifting in your teens. Number of temporary jobs, mainly a drifter, until two years ago you joined the Torchwood Institute in London. Junior researcher. Girlfriend, Lisa Hallett.”

_Junior researcher? He really doesn’t remember then._

*

The night of the battle, after the dust had settled and the dead had been taken, Ianto had set Lisa up in an old storage facility he knew would be empty and made a b-line for a nearby internet café,

He had used them before and knew they wouldn’t ask questions.

Hacking his own file on the Torchwood server had been piss easy. It had been erasing the past year of his life that had sucked. He had a plan to get into Torchwood, and part of that plan included meeting with Harkness. He hoped Harkness wouldn’t recognise his name from their brief phone conversation a few months back, but he knew as soon as he met him, his file would be checked.

Ianto knew from what Yvonne told him that Jack really hated her and hated Torchwood one. So he needed to make himself seem as distant from all of that as possible.

_“Ianto Jones, Born August 19 th 1983\. Able student but not exceptional. One minor conviction for shoplifting in your teens. Number of temporary jobs, mainly a drifter, until two years ago you joined the Torchwood Institute in London”_

Junior researcher.

He backspaced field agent. He backspaced Yvonne Hartman’s Personal assistant. He backspaced coordinator, and organiser, and friend and colleague and coffee maker and life and London and Lisa…

He removed the text from his file like he did the years from his life.

Junior researcher. One of the little people. It was vital they never knew how important he had become.

*

“Lisa!” Ianto cried as he skidded into the warehouse, the soles of his shoes well past the state of being functional. “I did it! I got the job! Once I’m settled I can move you in and everything will be okay. I promise.”

Lisa’s eyes lit up in a way that made Ianto’s heart break a million times over

“Ianto, I’m so proud of you. Thank you!”

He was kneeling by her makeshift bed, her hand cupping his face. He didn’t tell her that the metal on her skin was freezing cold and that a particularly sharp part was digging into the skin of his cheek. He didn’t want to upset her.

“Come to bed Ianto, you’re so tired.”

Ianto shook his head.

“I’ve got work to do, Lis, I need to start setting up this conversion unit so you’ll be ready to move when we need to. And I need to find a flat. Harkness will want my living address tomorrow, and I can’t very well give him this place.”

Ianto kissed her cheek then sat down a few metres away from her in front of the pile of conversion unit parts he had managed to swipe the day of the battle. He started to pick things up, seeing how the fit together. He heard an amused sigh behind him.

“Let me help you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey, Ianto!”

“Sir,”

“Do you have those files I asked for yesterday?”

“Yes sir.”

“Wonderful.”

“Sir.”

“Oh, and Ianto?”

“Mm?”

“You couldn’t grab me a cup of your _wonderful_ coffee, could you?”

“Yes sir.”

*

“I have good news! Finally, I have good news!” Ianto said as he walked through the door into Lisa’s room. “Lisa, are you awake?”

Se groaned in pain.

“What is it?”

Ianto stood next to her, he kissed her forehead and checked her vitals on the machine he had rigged up.

“It’s the Doctor, Doctor Tanisaki. He’s replied to my emails. He’s going to come Lis, next week. He said he would come!”

Lisa offered a ghost of a smile.

“That’s… great…”

Ianto leaned over, searching her eyes. His hopefulness of a few seconds earlier evaporated almost immediately.

“Are you-How are you feeling?”

“Okay, really… I just-”

_“Ianto. Get up here now. Owen’s brought in a new corpse and he’s made a horrific mess. We’re gonna need coffee. And a body bag. Now!”_

Ianto pressed a finger to his comm and pulled it out.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s…. It’s okay. You go. I’m not going anywhere.”

Ianto pecked her lips then fled the room, ignoring the angry tears he could feel filling his eyes.

*

In some twisted and sickening way, he was actually relieved. The weight he had been carrying with him for months had finally been lifted. But of course, it came with a price.

She was dead. Jack had killed her.

He turned over in his bed. A pain in his side and in his heart.

He had failed her, he had failed them: everyone at Torchwood One who had died. Lisa was all he had had left. And now even she was gone. Another name on a long list of casualties. A list he was not on.

His phone rang. It was his Mum.

He didn’t answer.

*

One night, sometime after Ianto had nearly been eaten alive he and Jack were sat in Jack office sipping expensive scotch. The alcohol eased their tongues and their minds. For once, it was easy between them.

“I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Me too.”

“No, Ianto…” Jack leaned forward in his chair. “I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry about Lisa, about… you know. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. I hope you know that.”

Ianto finished his drink in one burning gulp.

“You’re helping now. I think that’s all that matters.”

*

“Ianto,” Jack said through a mouthful of cereal. “You’re out of milk.”

Ianto came out from his bedroom wearing half of his suit.

“I know. Put it on the list. I will go shopping tonight.”

“I thought that tonight we were…. You know…”

“Oh… Okay, I will go shopping tomorrow morning.”

“That’s ambitious.”

“What is?” Ianto took a sip of his coffee.

“Thinking you’ll be able to stand straight tomorrow.”

Jack handed Ianto a tissue as he choked on his drink.

*

Ianto weaved his hands together, watching as his fingers locked and unlocked with one another. He sipped his coffee. It was bitter, more so than he usually preferred, but today he needed that kick in the teeth. 2 years. It was strange to say it in his head. 2 whole years at Torchwood three. Gwen had insisted they had a little party to celebrate Ianto’s achievement. Jack bit his lip, but had said okay.

So here Ianto was sat; Owen and Gwen were drinking something that Ianto had turned down a glass of, Tosh was fiddling with her PDA and Jack was staring at him. They had done the toast, and the unwrapping of the small collection of gifts. 2 years didn’t seem a particularly big achievement to Ianto, but he supposed, given the dangerous nature of the job… perhaps it was.

One by one, the team began to filter out. First Owen, then Gwen, then finally Tosh after she had given Ianto a kiss on the cheek. Shortly after the cog door had rolled shut, Jack had meandered over to the younger man.

“So, 2 whole years.”

“Barely a lick on your 150 odd.”

“It’s been plenty a lick for me.”

Ianto laughed and sipped again at his coffee. Jack landed with grace onto the sofa next to Ianto.

“You okay? You’ve been quiet.”

“Thoughtful really.”

“You’ve not been thinking about Torchwood Three have you?”

Ianto wasn’t particularly surprised. Jack ad always been able to read him like the open book he tried desperately not to be.

“No,”

“London?”

“London.”

“The anniversary was a few months ago, im sorry I didn’t make a bigger deal for you. Given you the day off or something…”

“No, its fine. I wanted to be at work.”

“Tell me about it.”

Ianto’s head spun so quick he could have knocked Jack out.

“What? You-you want me to tell you about the battle?”

“No, no, no. Tell me about Torchwood one. Tell me about London; your co-workers, friends. I realised… in the 2 years I’ve known you, I never asked about your life.”

“It wasn’t anything special.”

“Tell me anyway. Tell me about the wonderfully boring life a Torchwood one junior researcher led.”

Ianto cringed. God, he’d almost forgotten Jack didn’t know. Perhaps it was time he did…”

“Jack..”

“Ianto?”

“I need to tell you…”

“Go on?”

“I wasn’t actually a junior researcher.”

It was Jack’s turn to look surprised.

“What? I read your file, I specifically read it, and then read it to you. If it was wrong why wouldn’t you say?” Ianto saw the thoughts run through Jack’s mind. Confusion, realisation, amazement, embarrassment. “… You hacked your own file.”

“I did.”

“You changed it.”

“I did.”                                                                                                    

“To… What? Stop us from-”

“To stop you from putting me in the field. And to make myself invisible….” He laughed a little bit. “It worked.”

Jack shared his smile, then leaned back onto the chair.

“Go on then, who were you?”

Ianto grinned and settled next to Jack, their bodies touching from knee to shoulder.

“Admin.” Jack laughed. “Im serious. First month there, I was a paper pusher downstairs. Then some stuff happened. Big monster in Cardiff, I helped Yvonne bring it down. apparently Torchwood 3 were run off your feet.”

“Lord knows we were. Mad week.”

“After that I was promoted.”

“Promoted? One month in?”

“They moved quickly in London.”

“What was your job?”

“It was just like here really, I had lots. I was an organiser, administrator for the heads of department, I helped people who needed helping, had information they wanted. Go to guy if you like, for anything Torchwood. I did occasional field work when they were short, I briefly tried full time field work, but it wasn’t for me.”

“You prefer running things from behind the scenes.”

“Indeed. But first and foremost, I was Yvonne Hartman’s assistant.”

Ianto could see the wheels turning in Jack’s mind, the dots connecting, the puzzle put together.

“You…. Were Yvonne’s assistant...”

“Mm.”

“…Oh my God.”

“Yep.”

“Ianto Jones.”

“Yes.”

“Phone Monkey…” Ianto laughed as Jack sat up, his eyes wide with shock. “You were Yvonne’s phone monkey!?”

“Hey now, I basically just told you I was running Torchwood one and you’re calling me a phone monkey!”

“Sorry… I just can’t believe I forgot about that. I almost can’t believe I remembered.”

“I always hoped you wouldn’t.”

“I can see why. Just… Jesus. While we were on that call I looked up your ID picture. I thought you were cute.”

“I hope you don’t still mean in the past tense.”

Jack gave him a look and laughed.

“Jesus Ianto…”

“I still have some surprises, you know.”

“I do know. I’m almost sad you never told me. I spent months never realising your true ability, it wasn’t until….” Until you nearly got eaten alive. “I’m in awe.”

“Jack... I’m no different, noting special mind.”

Jack sat up quickly.

“Ianto Jones, you are as special as they come. You said yourself, you basically kept Torchwood running. And God knows what state this place would be in without you. You keep us right, you fight for us; you make sure nothing is out of line. There is no Torchwood without Ianto Jones.”

Ianto blushed slightly.

“Ditto…”

Jack laughed and brought a hand up to Ianto’s face.

“I mean that. I would have loved to have known you back then.”

“Im here now.”

“Yes you are. And you’re going to tell me even more later on.” Jack kissed Ianto hard. “All the gritty details.”

Ianto laughed as Jack kissed his neck. It had been a long road, a painful one and sometimes it still hurt. He thought briefly back to the life and friends he had had in London, to the flat and the roommate and the take out on Fridays; to Kieran and Rachel and David and Dean and Tommy and Yvonne. He thought of them, and for the first time in a long time, it didn’t hurt. He smiled.

It had been a hell of a journey, but at least he was home.


End file.
